Resource management can be defined as the act of planning, organising, and managing the various learning resources and materials possessed by a particular teacher or trainer. Effectual resource management is a crucial professional ability in almost every industry, particularly in the field of education and learning as teaching involves a range of learning resources that have to be designed for the learners. Importantly, honing one’s resource management abilities is a vital means for continuous professional development for teachers, and are often included in educational leadership programs. The entire task of resource management can take up a lot of time and energy, if not performed effectively as the teachers might feel overwhelmed with too many learning materials and objects. Here are some of the methods that can be pursued to effectively perform resource management.
- Create a resource pool: In simple words, the teachers can create a resource pool or list wherein all the available resources have been outlined. Having a clear snapshot of the available resources will enable the teachers to keep track of their materials and ensure that nothing has been misplaced. At the same time, the teachers will have a firm grip on the resources they own, and thus do not feel confused when they come across a new or different material.
- Plan for shortages: During a session, it is often likely that some of the materials get damaged or misplaced. In such cases, having extra materials is extremely important. This is a form of crisis management, and teachers should always be aware that resource shortages can occur at unprecedented times. Therefore, keeping extra materials is a key requirement.
- Organise them effectively: A teacher who loves to give a lot of handouts and chart papers and other activity materials needs to be able to organise them carefully. This can be done by arranging the similar items together and having separate bags for each category of resource. Mixing them all up can be messy as a lot of time can be taken up trying to figure out which resource is for which activity.
- Avoid unnecessary resources: A key to effective learning resource management is not to have too many materials, especially if not all of them are highly important. Nowadays, due to technological development, a lot of the materials has shifted online, which saves the baggage of carrying them around and losing them in the process. Nonetheless, having too many materials may be ineffective because the teacher may not even be able to use all of them in their respective sessions.
To ensure continuous professional development for teachers, mastering the skill of managing resources effectively is highly important as not doing so can wreak havoc during a session as the teacher may fuddle with the learning materials, take up a lot of time, and subsequently perturb the learning process and quality.
